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We continue the section on moral law, specifically focusing on the Old Law. Fr. Mike emphasizes that the Old Law is the first stage of Revealed Law. He also unpacks how the Old Law acts as preparation for the Gospel. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1961-1964.
Click on link: https://youtu.be/h17UhJ8ob5I?si=g_xXQcmgmRY0I4Iv
Together, we begin the section on moral law, starting with natural moral law. Fr. Mike begins by emphasizing that we need both the law that guides us and God’s grace that sustains us in order to live out our call to beatitude. He also unpacks how natural moral law is written in the soul of each and every man to help him discern between good and evil. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1949-1960.
Click on link: https://youtu.be/3DySawWb200?si=7j0w8MUvb524l7cw
Saint Robert Bellarmine’s Story (October 4, 1542 – September 17, 1621)
When Robert Bellarmine was ordained in 1570, the study of Church history and the fathers of the Church was in a sad state of neglect. A promising scholar from his youth in Tuscany, he devoted his energy to these two subjects, as well as to Scripture, in order to systematize Church doctrine against the attacks of the Protestant Reformers. He was the first Jesuit to become a professor at Louvain.
His most famous work is his three-volume Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith. Particularly noteworthy are the sections on the temporal power of the pope and the role of the laity. Bellarmine incurred the anger of monarchists in England and France by showing the divine-right-of-kings theory untenable. He developed the theory of the indirect power of the pope in temporal affairs; although he was defending the pope against the Scottish philosopher Barclay, he also incurred the ire of Pope Sixtus V.
Bellarmine was made a cardinal by Pope Clement VIII on the grounds that “he had not his equal for learning.” While he occupied apartments in the Vatican, Bellarmine relaxed none of his former austerities. He limited his household expenses to what was barely essential, eating only the food available to the poor. He was known to have ransomed a soldier who had deserted from the army and he used the hangings of his rooms to clothe poor people, remarking, “The walls won’t catch cold.”
Among many activities, Bellarmine became theologian to Pope Clement VIII, preparing two catechisms which have had great influence in the Church.
The last major controversy of Bellarmine’s life came in 1616 when he had to admonish his friend Galileo, whom he admired. He delivered the admonition on behalf of the Holy Office, which had decided that the heliocentric theory of Copernicus was contrary to Scripture. The admonition amounted to a caution against putting forward—other than as a hypothesis—theories not yet fully proven. This shows that saints are not infallible.
Robert Bellarmine died on September 17, 1621. The process for his canonization was begun in 1627, but was delayed until 1930 for political reasons, stemming from his writings. In 1930, Pope Pius XI canonized him, and the next year declared him a doctor of the Church.
Reflection
The renewal in the Church sought by Vatican II was difficult for many Catholics. In the course of change, many felt a lack of firm guidance from those in authority. They yearned for the stone columns of orthodoxy and an iron command with clearly defined lines of authority. Vatican II assures us in The Church in the Modern World, “There are many realities which do not change and which have their ultimate foundation in Christ, who is the same yesterday and today, yes, and forever” (#10, quoting Hebrews 13:8).
Robert Bellarmine devoted his life to the study of Scripture and Catholic doctrine. His writings help us understand that the real source of our faith is not merely a set of doctrines, but rather the person of Jesus still living in the Church today.
Saint Robert Bellarmine is the Patron Saint of:
Catechists
Catechumens
Saint Cornelius’ Story (d. 253)
There was no pope for 14 months after the martyrdom of Saint Fabian because of the intensity of the persecution of the Church. During the interval, the Church was governed by a college of priests. Saint Cyprian, a friend of Cornelius, writes that Cornelius was elected pope “by the judgment of God and of Christ, by the testimony of most of the clergy, by the vote of the people, with the consent of aged priests and of good men.”
The greatest problem of Cornelius’s two-year term as pope had to do with the Sacrament of Penance and centered on the readmission of Christians who had denied their faith during the time of persecution. Two extremes were finally both condemned. Cyprian, primate of North Africa, appealed to the pope to confirm his stand that the relapsed could be reconciled only by the decision of the bishop.
In Rome, however, Cornelius met with the opposite view. After his election, a priest named Novatian (one of those who had governed the Church) had himself consecrated a rival bishop of Rome—one of the first antipopes. He denied that the Church had any power to reconcile not only the apostates, but also those guilty of murder, adultery, fornication, or second marriage! Cornelius had the support of most of the Church (especially of Cyprian of Africa) in condemning Novatianism, though the sect persisted for several centuries. Cornelius held a synod at Rome in 251 and ordered the “relapsed” to be restored to the Church with the usual “medicines of repentance.”
The friendship of Cornelius and Cyprian was strained for a time when one of Cyprian’s rivals made accusations about him. But the problem was cleared up.
A document from Cornelius shows the extent of organization in the Church of Rome in the mid-third century: 46 priests, seven deacons, seven subdeacons. It is estimated that the number of Christians totaled about 50,000. He died as a result of the hardships of his exile in what is now Civitavecchia.
Reflection
It seems fairly true to say that almost every possible false doctrine has been proposed at some time or other in the history of the Church. The third century saw the resolution of a problem we scarcely consider—the penance to be done before reconciliation with the Church after mortal sin. Men like Cornelius and Cyprian were God’s instruments in helping the Church find a prudent path between extremes of rigorism and laxity. They are part of the Church’s ever-living stream of tradition, ensuring the continuance of what was begun by Christ, and evaluating new experiences through the wisdom and experience of those who have gone before.
The Story of Our Lady of Sorrows
For a while there were two feasts in honor of the Sorrowful Mother: one going back to the 15th century, the other to the 17th century. For a while both were celebrated by the universal Church: one on the Friday before Palm Sunday, the other in September.
The principal biblical references to Mary’s sorrows are in Luke 2:35 and John 19:26-27. The Lucan passage is Simeon’s prediction about a sword piercing Mary’s soul; the Johannine passage relates Jesus’ words from the cross to Mary and to the beloved disciple.
Many early Church writers interpret the sword as Mary’s sorrows, especially as she saw Jesus die on the cross. Thus, the two passages are brought together as prediction and fulfillment.
Saint Ambrose in particular sees Mary as a sorrowful yet powerful figure at the cross. Mary stood fearlessly at the cross while others fled. Mary looked on her Son’s wounds with pity, but saw in them the salvation of the world. As Jesus hung on the cross, Mary did not fear to be killed, but offered herself to her persecutors.
Reflection
John’s account of Jesus’ death is highly symbolic. When Jesus gives the beloved disciple to Mary, we are invited to appreciate Mary’s role in the Church: She symbolizes the Church; the beloved disciple represents all believers. As Mary mothered Jesus, she is now mother to all his followers. Furthermore, as Jesus died, he handed over his Spirit. Mary and the Spirit cooperate in begetting new children of God—almost an echo of Luke’s account of Jesus’ conception. Christians can trust that they will continue to experience the caring presence of Mary and Jesus’ Spirit throughout their lives and throughout history.
The Story of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Early in the fourth century, Saint Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine, went to Jerusalem in search of the holy places of Christ’s life. She razed the second-century Temple of Aphrodite, which tradition held was built over the Savior’s tomb, and her son built the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher on that spot. During the excavation, workers found three crosses. Legend has it that the one on which Jesus died was identified when its touch healed a dying woman.
The cross immediately became an object of veneration. At a Good Friday celebration in Jerusalem toward the end of the fourth century, according to an eyewitness, the wood was taken out of its silver container and placed on a table together with the inscription Pilate ordered placed above Jesus’ head: Then “all the people pass through one by one; all of them bow down, touching the cross and the inscription, first with their foreheads, then with their eyes; and, after kissing the cross, they move on.”
To this day, the Eastern Churches, Catholic and Orthodox alike, celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on the September anniversary of the basilica’s dedication. The feast entered the Western calendar in the seventh century after Emperor Heraclius recovered the cross from the Persians, who had carried it off in 614, 15 years earlier. According to the story, the emperor intended to carry the cross back into Jerusalem himself, but was unable to move forward until he took off his imperial garb and became a barefoot pilgrim.
Reflection
The cross is today the universal image of Christian belief. Countless generations of artists have turned it into a thing of beauty to be carried in procession or worn as jewelry. To the eyes of the first Christians, it had no beauty. It stood outside too many city walls, decorated only with decaying corpses, as a threat to anyone who defied Rome’s authority—including Christians who refused sacrifice to Roman gods. Although believers spoke of the cross as the instrument of salvation, it seldom appeared in Christian art unless disguised as an anchor or the Chi-Rho until after Constantine’s edict of toleration.
Saint John Chrysostom’s Story (c. 349 – September 14, 407)
The ambiguity and intrigue surrounding John, the great preacher (his name means “golden-mouthed”) from Antioch, are characteristic of the life of any great man in a capital city. Brought to Constantinople after a dozen years of priestly service in Syria, John found himself the reluctant victim of an imperial ruse to make him bishop in the greatest city of the empire. Ascetic, unimposing but dignified, and troubled by stomach ailments from his desert days as a monk, John became a bishop under the cloud of imperial politics.
If his body was weak, his tongue was powerful. The content of his sermons, his exegesis of Scripture, were never without a point. Sometimes the point stung the high and mighty. Some sermons lasted up to two hours.
His lifestyle at the imperial court was not appreciated by many courtiers. He offered a modest table to episcopal sycophants hanging around for imperial and ecclesiastical favors. John deplored the court protocol that accorded him precedence before the highest state officials. He would not be a kept man.
His zeal led him to decisive action. Bishops who bribed their way into office were deposed. Many of his sermons called for concrete steps to share wealth with the poor. The rich did not appreciate hearing from John that private property existed because of Adam’s fall from grace any more than married men liked to hear that they were bound to marital fidelity just as much as their wives were. When it came to justice and charity, John acknowledged no double standards.
Aloof, energetic, outspoken, especially when he became excited in the pulpit, John was a sure target for criticism and personal trouble. He was accused of gorging himself secretly on rich wines and fine foods. His faithfulness as spiritual director to the rich widow, Olympia, provoked much gossip attempting to prove him a hypocrite where wealth and chastity were concerned. His actions taken against unworthy bishops in Asia Minor were viewed by other ecclesiastics as a greedy, uncanonical extension of his authority.
Theophilus, archbishop of Alexandria, and Empress Eudoxia were determined to discredit John. Theophilus feared the growth in importance of the Bishop of Constantinople and took occasion to charge John with fostering heresy. Theophilus and other angered bishops were supported by Eudoxia. The empress resented his sermons contrasting gospel values with the excesses of imperial court life. Whether intended or not, sermons mentioning the lurid Jezebel and impious Herodias were associated with the empress, who finally did manage to have John exiled. He died in exile in 407.
Reflection
John Chrysostom’s preaching, by word and example, exemplifies the role of the prophet to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. For his honesty and courage, he paid the price of a turbulent ministry as bishop, personal vilification, and exile.
Saint John Chrysostom is the Patron Saint of:
Orators
Speakers
Preachers
This sermon has been felon-approved by the folks at FU (Felon University; i.e., the prison). Remember, I have often told you that to study scripture you have to study it in the language and culture in which events occurred. Otherwise, you won’t understand the extreme significance of our Lord’s words. For example, consider the question, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Now, if you have a family like mine, before their number was reduced considerably, sometimes they can really tick you off. When my brother would make me mad, I’d wonder if it was the sixth or seventh time and if I should forgive him. But our Lord said, ‘”I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” Catholic school math tells me that is 490 times that I must forgive. I could reach that number at a family reunion!
In Aramaic, seven is a perfect number – it is zero, a perfect circle, and so it is infinite. Our Lord said, “seventy times seven” or beyond infinity. Why did He use that language? Because while most modern languages today have comparative and superlative tenses, Aramaic and Hebrew did not at the time. Remember when spies were sent to the Promised Land? When they came back, they said that the people there were as numerous as grasshoppers and as tall as giants. No, they weren’t. There were just so many people that the spies couldn’t count them all, and the people were huge. When Jesus fed the 5,000, not counting women and children, do you think the apostles were doing a head count? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. . . No. It’s like when the diocese asks how many people were at church. Well, the church was full, so there were 300. The numbers are hyperbole. . . a number beyond counting.
Our Lord used that hyperbolic phrase, “seventy times seventy” because that is how great God’s mercy is. God’s nature is mercy and love. So to deny everlasting mercy would be to deny Himself. No matter how badly you think you’ve sinned, He absolutely forgives and forgets. The only thing God cannot forgive is our not asking for forgiveness because He will not violate our free will. We can keep things to ourselves although He already knows. So, don’t think you are keeping anything from Him. It is our choice to love Him or not. Receiving His mercy is one of the greatest experiences of God’s love. And that experience of God’s love enables us, as Saint John Paul II said, to go from the Sacrament of Penance which is the Sacrament of His mercy and love to the Sacrament of Holy Communion and Mass. We can have a deeper appreciation, bond, and love for the Sacrament of Penance which leads to other Sacraments. When someone says, “Father, I don’t need to go to confession,” I tell them that they also don’t need Holy Communion. “What do you mean, Father?” Did I stutter? (My new favorite phrase.) Then I ask a series of questions. Who do you see in Holy Communion? “Jesus Christ.” Very good. Who is Jesus Christ? “The Savior.” What does He save you from? “Sin.” And if you have no sins, you don’t need Mass and you don’t need to receive Holy Communion. We all need a Savior.
We cannot give what we do not have. Likewise, we cannot forgive others if we have not experienced forgiveness. Because of our diminished intellect and fallen nature, we tend to judge our spiritual nature by our feelings. When we are called to forgive others, we might say, “I don’t feel like forgiving that person.” However, Jesus used a declarative sentence when He said, “Forgive.” Nowhere in the Gospels did He ever ask, “How do you feel about that?” Our Lord doesn’t care how you feel. Forgiveness is an act of the will. Our feelings are diminished and don’t always lead us in the right direction. The right thing to do goes beyond our feelings and inclinations. When I eat fish – Eugh! – I do not feel like eating fish! I hate fish!! Damn doctors! But I have to eat it. Did the doctor ask if I like fish? No! Did he tell me to eat it? Yes. Quack! For many years, I thought bacon was a health food. God really has a way of laughing at us. But eating fish is the right thing to do, so I reluctantly choke it down.
Our Lord gave us a way to deal with all those feelings and resentments we have for others. He said, “Pray for them.” Pray for those who hate and persecute you. One, they may be wrong; and two, they may be right, and we really are jerks. Who knows. But we pray for them, and we pray for ourselves so that we can get our distorted feelings and emotions back in check. People say, “Father, you must hear lots of juicy things during confessions.” Not really. After the first week of hearing confessions, it’s like being stoned to death with popcorn. If you have a sin I’ve never heard, I’ll name it after you. Some people come to confession very upset, and I ask them what they have done. “Well, I did this.” Sometimes the hardest thing about hearing confessions is not laughing. Really? You are definitely pole-vaulting over mouse droppings here. But what I hear while being stoned to death with popcorn is their great love. I hear what people say and what they don’t say. They realize they have sinned and have cut themselves off from God’s love. They love God and want to come back and open their souls up to receive God’s love. That’s what I hear, and I really do listen. You aren’t going to sneak one in on me. “Father, I talk cruelly to my dog and my cat. I did some speeding. I killed two people and umm…” Whoa! That’s called an Oreo confession. But besides that, I hear the love for God. And that’s what priests are listening for.
Father’s Reflections . . .
On Friday, I was doing my ACLS or CPR recertification, and I was working on a very expensive and sophisticated mannequin that would tell me if I needed to go deeper, faster, slower, or move my hands. And all of a sudden, the mannequin went “de-de-de Woo-Bunk” and completely shut down. So, I did the only thing I could . . . I pulled the sheet up over the mannequin, turned out the light, and closed the door as I left. I’m a hospital chaplain; I’ve done this before.
How will you apply this message to your life? ________________________________________
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” then “Sermon Notes.” On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.” Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.” Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at ola.catholic.church. Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”
//Clergy Coaching Network//
Gospel: Matthew 18: 15-20
Because we are all baptized, we are called to carry our crosses each day on the road to Calvary. All of us will pass from this life and see God. Some of us will stay only for a cup of coffee while others will get to stay longer. If we are faithful, we will have a graduation ceremony in Heaven. There are a lot of other people also on their way to Calvary. We are called to encourage one another on the way to salvation. It is important that we are not too sensitive when someone says, “Father, you are a real pain in the patootie.” I already know that, and I’ll try to be better. Sometimes, we are blind to our own faults, and we may start wandering off the path Christ has set for us. We are called to warn others, “Hey homey, get over here. You are wandering off the path and into a minefield. Don’t go there. Bad move!” Saint Paul said, “I make up with my body what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ.” So, we help one another by our prayers, sufferings, and works to help them carry their crosses. And conversely, they help us carry ours.
Instead of the terms “admonition” and “correction,” I prefer the term “encouragement.” You don’t know anything about the crosses people are carrying and whether their crosses are their own fault, the fault of their parents, or the fault of their siblings. We have no idea of the life they have led. So rather than admonishing or correcting someone, I prefer encouraging them because it goes a lot further. Sometimes a correction or threat is just an attention-getter. But once you have their attention, encourage them. In religious life, we call that fraternal correction. However, it is usually infernal correction. Our Lord said, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?” We tend to think of ourselves as superior because, well, we are us. I like to use fraternal encouragement. Most people know they’ve made mistakes, so you don’t need to remind them. They need encouragement to try to do the right thing to get back on, and stay on, the path Christ has set for us. It’s hard to take up our daily crosses. So, we need to encourage one another. That’s why God gives Himself to us in the Sacraments.
I remember once running a Physical Training (PT) test. The Army has since then changed the rules, but before when someone was failing – and you don’t want anyone to fail – when nobody was looking, you would pick them up and run with them. Their feet would barely touch the ground. And if an official was around, we would set them down and say, “Now run.” We were running this one PT test, and I had my assistant run back to encourage the stragglers because nobody wants to take the test again. This one soldier said, “I can’t do it, Sir! I can’t do it! I’m going to be sick!” Shut up! You can do it. She made it, and she made it within the timeline. And true to her word, she was ill. Oops! Later, she came back to me she said, “Thank you for helping me.”
We are called to encourage one another with our crosses on our way to salvation. A couple of things about our crosses and encouraging others with theirs is that we all have them, and we are no more holy than anyone else. Even if someone is at fault, and even if it approaches the level of Civil Law, you cannot make it public because doing so would be scandalous and sinful. Bishops are very good at scandal. They really are. You have to give people a way back and a way to regain their good name. It is very hard for some people in the Church to do that even though, according to Civil Law, you can have your record expunged. We have to allow people a way back because we are men, not angels.
A priest once told me he had been suspended. Now, I’m not a Canon lawyer, but I’ve seen one on television. I asked this priest if he had received a letter. He had not. I told him that once he received a letter, it would tell him what he had done and what he needed to do to come back. This is a medicinal remedy and not a punishment. We are not in the punishment business; we are in the helping people obtain salvation business. Remember, the amount of mercy we show is the amount of mercy we will receive.
Father’s Reflections . . . Monday is the anniversary of 9/11, and it reminds me of a quote by George Orwell: “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” And having worked with some of them, yes, we did.
I had an interesting phone call the other day. Usually, the calls I get go like this: “Father, yada yada yada, blah blah blah.” And my response is, “Oh not again! Please, just leave me alone!” But this call was really nice and interesting. The person said, “Father, I’m not a member of your parish, but I have Covid, and it’s terrible. Would you please pray for me?” Thank you! I love messages like that. It was a really nice phone call which is better than the ones I usually get. And yes, I did pray for the caller.
How will you apply this message to your life? ________________________________________
You can read all of Father Fitzgibbons’ sermons by going to annunciationcatholicalbemarle.com and clicking on “Blog” then “Categories” then “Sermon Notes.” On a cell phone: click on “Blog” and then “Menu.” Scroll to the bottom and click on “Categories.” Sermon Notes are also available on the Church’s Facebook page at ola.catholic.church. Click on “Groups” and then “Sermon Notes.”